1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to an apparatus for automatic transfer and finishing of items, for example pistons which are of light alloys and are cast several at a time in a chill mold. Even more particularly, the present invention accomplishes without human intervention all the operations of transferring and finishing the items, starting from their removal from the mold and proceeding until they are taken up for final finishing on transfer machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The difficulties of automating the finishing operations on foundry-produced parts are well-known, even when the parts are cast by methods which assure very reproducible characteristics such as chill molding under pressure or under low pressure as taught, for example, in French Pat. No. 6,935,366 in the same name as the assignee of the present application.
More particularly, the flashings on cast parts have irregularities in form which are ill-adapted to manipulation by mechanical means used in standard finishing operations. The necessity of cooling the parts entails periods of storage in cooling areas which are enlarged due to the high output of modern casting machines which produce a series of items at each injection. Correspondingly, the trimming methods must be rapid enough to keep up with this great output preferably without having to be expensively multiplied.
The foregoing difficulties of securing mechanical handling of parts prone to exhibiting irregularities in form, complicated by the great number and required coordination of different cycles of operation, have caused these finishing operations and handling of foundry parts to remain essentially manual and thus not amenable to total automation.